Richard Kirshenbaum

Richard Kirshenbaum

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Richard Kirshenbaum is one of the most sought after personalities in New York City advertising and branding. Richard is an accomplished entrepreneur, as well as an author and has written a number of books. His latest Isn’t That Rich, Life Among the One Percent” published by Open Road, based on his monthly column for the New York Observer, was recently sold to ABC Studios in partnership with Ben Silverman.

In 1987, at age twenty-six, he cofounded the Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners agency, which pioneered such innovative concepts as the pop-up store, sidewalk advertising, and other forms of high-visibility guerrilla marketing. At the time of its sale, KBP was the largest independent ad agency in the United States, with one billion dollars in billings and well known divisions such as Media Kitchen and Varick Media. The agency’s clients included BMW, Jergens, Hennessy, Moet & Chandon, Van Cleef & Arpels, Snapple, Coach and Target.

Currently, Kirshenbaum is CEO and Founder of NSG/SWAT, a high-profile boutique branding agency he launched in 2011, having worked with; Wheels Up Aviation, Starwood Hotels, the New York Knicks, the New York Rangers, Jockey, EleVen by Venus Williams and Greg Norman’s Shark Enterprises among others. He is also co-founder, with music icon Chris Blackwell, of Blackwell Fine Jamaican Rum. He is also co-founder of SWAT Equity, a fund that invests in emerging consumer brands. Kirshenbaum is also an investor and Director of The 88, a social media company recently acquired by Havas.

Kirshenbaum has lectured at Harvard Business School, The Newhouse School of Communications has appeared on 20/20, CNN, MSNBC and had a cameo in Morgan Spurlock’s The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. He was also voted one of the 25 most stylish New Yorker’s by Us Magazine and has appeared on the cover of the New York Times Styles section. He was named to Crain’s New York Business’s “40 under Forty” list, was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame in 2000, and placed second on a list of the top one hundred US entrepreneurs. He is the author of the business book Under the Radar; the relationship guide Closing the Deal, which has been translated into nine languages; the advertising memoir Madboy,an Amazon bestseller; Isn’t That Rich? a #1 Amazon bestseller and his novel Rouge debuts in June 2019 for St. Martin’s Press. Kirshenbaum is an accomplished playwright, and his work has been produced by David Mamet’s Atlantic Theater Company. He has also contributed to Us Weekly’s “Fashion Police” feature and has written comedy for the late Joan Rivers, among others.

Richard is committed to furthering diversity in the advertising community and is proud of the Richard Kirshenbaum scholarship for underserved teens through the TORCH organization, he was honored with the 2011 L.I.G.H.T. Award. Richard has sat on the Board of Directors of the One Club for Copy and Art, The Whitney Museum’s Photography board and has been honored and served on the board of Arts Connection. Kirshenbaum was recently honored at his alma mater Syracuse University’s Newhouse School for his accomplishments in the media industry as one of their top 50 graduates.

He lives in New York City with his wife, Dana a former Entertainment & Media Publicist and their three children, Lucas, Talia and Georgia.